<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Forty-Six Steps and Two Lovers by MsVonB82</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135200">Forty-Six Steps and Two Lovers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsVonB82/pseuds/MsVonB82'>MsVonB82</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Lifetimes [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dark Reylo, F/M, Sacrifice, Self-Sacrifice, Suicide</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:01:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>793</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135200</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsVonB82/pseuds/MsVonB82</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey lost him once when she walked away, she lost him again when she took and returned his life, and she lost him once more when he gave his life for hers. Three times was more than enough. If this failed, the galaxy would burn.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kylo Ren/Rey</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Lifetimes [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1856680</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Forty-Six Steps and Two Lovers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by the song "Forty-six &amp; 2" by Tool</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sounds of her footsteps echoed down the ashen hallway leading towards the dark pool. She could feel invisible eyes raking over her form as she took purposeful strides to the final forty-six steps to their destiny. She tried her best to ignore the sensation the hidden eyes made on her body as best as she could. Clutching his cloak tighter around her body, she reached out into the force to wrap his lingering shadow around her. She was determined to not lose him this time. Three times. The force allowed them to be separated three times in this lifetime. Simply thinking about it made her blood boil and the desire to burn the galaxy asunder lay heavy on her tongue. The force owed her. It's taken from her the family that bore her, it baited her with the promise of belonging, its ripped her to pieces when showing that she meant less than power, and then it healed her very soul by bringing him to back to her only to shatter that soul across lifetimes by making her watch him leave. They were here once, in this very place, almost close enough to love. </p>
<p>Reaching the pool's edge, she hears the whisper of an elderly woman's voice speak the words "join in my child". Heeding the disembodied voice, she stepped fully clothed into the cold, dark pool. She felt the water begin to saturate both her dress and his cloak making them heavier upon her frame. Encouraged by the power she felt seeping into her, she continued to step further into the pool until she reached its center and the water hugged her hips tight as though it was a lover's embrace. She reached down to her belt that secured her saber and pulled the blade of ochi of bestoon from its spot on her hip. She glanced down at the weapon and sighed knowing that the last of his life force laid upon its hilt, in a cloth that she preserved out of sentimentality. Leaning the blade against her skin she sliced her left-hand open. Closing her eyes she transferred the blade from her right hand to its now bleeding counterpart. The force hummed in both warning and awe as the blood collected in her palm met the dry and encrusted blood on the cloth. A trembling breath escaped her lips as the power shared between the two eternal lovers sang around her body, through her hand, and radiated up her arm to consume her whole. She felt as the shadow within her began to shed its skin. "The Sith'ari will be free of limits" she hears the crone's voice whisper as the echo of his power began to grow in time to her heartbeat. She felt the force cry out in both sorrow and resolve as it recognized her triumph. This moment from dreams and nightmares, from lost and found memories, from lifetimes of love and loss, saw her getting closer to meaning. Closer to balance. </p>
<p>Lifting the blade to chest height, she wrapped her uninjured hand around the hilt to steady herself. She would not fail him this time. She would not lose him. Closing her eyes for a final time, she allowed herself to slip into their joined shadow. Her arms worked on their own accord as the dagger was plunged into her chest and heart. Time slowed as the blood burst from her chest and dropped into the dark pool feeding it more power than it had ever known. The pain enveloped her for one long moment as she felt their shadows soar. "Ben", the words escaped from her lips in a gasp and the force accepted the sacrifice of their darkness in exchange for a second chance. As the darkness gripped her, she heard the crone's laughter and words "The Sith'ari will raise the Sith from death and make them stronger than before". </p>
<p>On the other side of the shadow, the light of one Rey of Jakku was snuffed out with the words "Ben" falling from her lips and a Skywalker lightsaber ripped from her hand by the force in a burning room, above a war. Rey dropped to her knees while clutching her chest. She could feel her love's surprise ripple across the air as the darkness within consumed her whole. Taking deep breaths to quell the lingering pain from death, Rey glanced up and into the face of Kylo Ren. Grinning at him from her knelt position on the Supremacy floor, Rey spoke the words he longed to hear- "Yes". The words echoed across time as Kylo reached out and offered his hand to her once more and Rey of Jakku- soulmate of the last Skywalker and heir to both Sith and Jedi- accepted. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yes, the blood on the cloth was from the moment she stabbed and ended Kylo Ren. And yes, the blade is the one from TROS. </p>
<p>Also, still working on my other story. They have a mind of their own over there. It's getting kind of ridiculous. Lol.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>